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位于河外背景光吸收的伽马射线视界的Fermi-LAT耀变体的探测

Detections of Fermi-LAT Blazars at the γ-ray Horizon by the EBL Absorption

  • 摘要: 河外背景光(Extragalactic Background Light, EBL)是弥散在整个宇宙中的远红外至紫外的电磁波辐射, 携带了宇宙演化的重要信息. 因为伽马射线光子在宇宙穿行的过程中能够与河外背景光产生双光子湮灭, 因此探寻宇宙的伽马射线光深对理解河外背景光至关重要, 而探测遥远伽马射线源的河外背景光吸收显著(\tau_\gamma\gamma \gtrsim 1, \tau_\gamma\gamma: 高能伽马射线光子与低能背景光子的吸收光学深度)的视界光子是一种直接有效的方法. 针对Fermi-LAT最新的伽马射线源样本, 经过细致的筛选和认真的红移甄别, 对448个源进行了系统性的伽马射线数据分析. 通过与主流的河外背景光模型对比, 结果揭示了46个视界光子来源于36个耀变体, 其中最远的源红移达到2.944. 进一步的伽马射线时域分析表明, 部分的耀变体的最强烈的耀发与视界光子的探测时间成协. 来自于平谱射电类星体的批量视界光子对喷流的辐射区域位置有所限制. 与此同时, 辐射视界光子的耀变体可作为下一代空间与地面伽马射线望远镜观测的重要对象.

     

    Abstract: Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) is the cosmic diffuse electromagnetic radiation that ranges from the far-infrared to the ultraviolet bands, and contains important information on the evolution of the universe. Since during their traveling through the cosmos, the \gamma -ray photons are suffered by the \gamma\gamma absorption by the EBL, investigations of the \gamma -ray opacity of the universe are helpful to understand the EBL. Detections of \gamma rays with significant EBL absorptions (i.e., \tau_\gamma\gamma\gtrsim 1) from distant \gamma -ray sources, is an effective and direct approach to constrain the EBL models. In this study, after careful selections and thorough redshift scrutinization on the sources listed in the latest Fermi-LAT \gamma -ray catalog, we perform systematic Fermi-LAT data analyses on 448 \gamma -ray sources. By comparison with the widely adopted EBL model, 46 horizon \gamma -ray photons from 36 blazars are detected, of which the most distant one is at redshift of 2.944. Among the blazars, the numbers of flat spectral radio quasars (FSRQs) and the BL Lacertae objects are equal. Further temporal \gamma -ray analyses reveal that occasionally arrival of the horizon photons coincide with the unprecedentedly intense \gamma -ray flares. Detections of handful of horizon \gamma -ray photons from the FSRQs put a tight constraint on the location of the energy dissipation region of the jet. Meanwhile, the blazars that emit horizon photons are crucial targets for the observations of the next generation of the space and ground \gamma -ray telescopes.

     

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